


All I Want Is You

by cheshireree (shyfoxes)



Series: SouRin Week 2016 (Feb 2 -9) [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Kindergarten & Pre-school, Alternate Universe - Never Met, Dorks in Love, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-18 07:25:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5905330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shyfoxes/pseuds/cheshireree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SouRin Week 2016 - Day One - Paper: Never Met</p><p>Pre-School Teacher AU. The pre-school teacher that teaches Rin’s nephew is more than he bargained for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All I Want Is You

It was Rin’s off season when his little sister Gou had rang him up to nag him that she wasn’t going to take any excuses for coming to visit. He had promised to spend more time with her and their family when he finally returned home.

Rin had been jet-lagged and face down on his bed upside down when he answered his cell in his Tokyo apartment the same day his plane landed. Rin had only sleepily grunted through the whole conversation, belatedly realizing after he’d hung up that he’d not only promised Gou that he’d be spending a month back in Sano staying with his mother (not that he really minded) but also walking his nephew Koutarou to his pre-school and back everyday for said month.

Rin groaned into his pillow and slept until the sun was rising into the next day and his alarm for his daily run was sounding off. For once, Rin switched it off and threw it into the pile of discarded clothes he’d shed when he’d dragged himself home.

When Rin finally did wake up, the events of his phone conversation finally sinking in, he was eating energy bars in the cupboard. He took one look at his bare cupboards and quiet apartment and decided that maybe Gou had the right idea after all.

His teammate, Haruka, had gone home to Iwatobi too if he wasn’t mistaken. He was mostly going home to a childhood friend who was also currently home for break vising his own family. He supposed it’d be good to drop in on Haruka and annoy the shit out of both of them.

A few days later, after dropping his rent in advance and a note with the landlady, Rin flew home to Sano.

-

Koutarou had just been a little thing when Rin had left to study abroad, train, and eventually compete in the Olympics. He remembered high-tailing it out of practice just to hurry home to be in the hospital waiting room when he’d heard Gou had gone into labor. He’d arrived just in time, considering Koutarou had taken his sweet time coming into the world, but had made it known that he had gotten his lungs from the Mikoshiba side of his family.

A few wisps of dark red-hair were on his little head, and he lay swaddled and tucked against Gou’s breast when Rin had come in. Seijuro had been holding her hand at her bedside when they’d spotted him. He smiled softly and moved aside for Rin to drop down next to his sister.

Gou had looked so tired but she smiled so brightly anyway, reaching out to her brother to come look at his new nephew. Rin had lasted all of twenty seconds babbling on about how he was proud of her and how cute the baby was before he broke down and cried. Their mother had returned with a cup of coffee in time to see Gou cradling one sleeping baby in her arm and patting the back of another bawling one with the other. Seijuro had had to be shushed from laughing to hard, in case he made two babies start crying.

The Koutarou of now, though, was a ball of energy. Rin wanted to put the blame on Sei for this but then Rin had been a giant ball of energy as a kid himself, too. The moment Rin had come to pick him up the morning was the moment Rin was nearly toppled by a speeding bullet as Koutarou made a beeline straight for his legs, doing his best to try and climb up his uncle like a tree.

“Uncle Rin! Uncle Rin!” Koutarou cried. “You’re here! When did you get here? Where were you before? Did you bring me anything? How long will you stay? Will you swim with me later?”

Rin didn’t have a chance to try and answer before Gou was sweeping Koutarou up in her arms and hauling him back to the kitchen for breakfast.

“You can talk Uncle Rin’s ear off more when he walks you to school,” Gou said. “First, you have to eat breakfast. You want big muscles like your daddy, right?”

Rin ried not to make a face as his sister’s eyes sparkled. That one aspect of her hadn’t changed at all. She had always been a bit strange in that department. Gou pulled Rin down into a seat, too, and pushed a plate of shark-shaped pancakes and eggs in front of him.

“You’ve gotten better at cooking while I was away, right?” Rin joked. “I still have a few more years to compete, I’m not ready to die.”

Gou puffed her cheeks up, making to take the plate away when Rin yelped and quickly apologized.

“That’s what you get! Stupid brother,” Gou muttered. “After all the hard work I made into cutting yours to look like a shark.”

Koutarou held up a piece of his own pancakes. “Mama made mine an otter! Just like Uncle Momo!”

Gou pressed a napkin over his mouth. “Don’t talk with your mouth full, Koutarou,” She reprimanded.

Koutarou looked adorably sheepish. Rin and Gou chatted with excited interludes from Koutarou until Gou was hurrying them out of the house. She handed him a piece of paper with an address.

“It’s not hard to find, Brother,” Gou said. “It’s right by Sano SC. I doubt you could forget where that is, right?”

Rin smiled. No, even if he’d found what he wanted at Iwatobi, there was no way he’d forget his time at Sano, either.  Gou leaned against the front door, a hint of mischief on her face as Rin readjusted Koutarou’s bag on his back and took his nephew by the hand. Koutarou was practically glowing, standing on his tiptoes and ready to go.

“I’ll finish breakfast with you when I’ve dropped off this little rascal. Then we’ll go out shopping for a bit, my treat,” Rin called over his shoulder.

“And we’ll get parfaits?” Gou added in.

“We’ll see!” Rin laughed, hoisting his nephew up by the arm every few steps just to hear him squeal in delight.

-

Rin’s first thought when he saw his nephew’s pre-school teacher was “Hot Damn”. The next, with barely concealed embarrassment, was that maybe it was genetic that Matsuokas were enamored with muscles.

Rin felt like he had heated up all too sudden and licked at his lips as he watched Koutarou break from him and make a beeline straight for “Yamazaki-sensei”. Yamazaki-sensei had been taking a drawing a little girl had handed him when Koutarou surprised him. He had paused before looking down and smiling warm and kind enough for Rin’s heart to jolt straight out of his chest.

Maybe Rin should have been a little more critical about the glint in Gou’s eyes. Maybe he should have suspected something when he’d sat down to eat breakfast with Gou and Koutarou in her and Sei’s home and was met with surprisingly delicious shark-shaped pancakes and eggs. Maybe Rin should have been more adamant about not letting Sei near his sister so he wouldn’t have to walk his nephew to the local pre-school in Sano by the Sano SC where he was currently ogling the hell out of Koutarou’s far too ripped and handsome teacher, Sousuke Yamazaki.

There was no way Yamazaki could be allowed to wear such a tight, form-fitting polo under his whale shark printed apron. There was no way he should look like a damn part-time athlete-model but somehow make a living wiping snotty noses and tears and putting little ones down to bed in his huge hands. Rin gulped. Rin’s eyes had strayed along Yamazaki’s body, stayed firmly pressed there until he was jolting up in time to see Yamazaki scoop Koutarou up. resting him in the curve of his left arm and look towards him at his nephew’s insistence pointing.

“Over there!” Koutarou yelled. Rin winced; he was a Mikoshiba through and through. “I brought my uncle with me, today. The one I was telling you about.”

Yamazaki raised an eyebrow before looking over to the doorway where Rin was awkwardly standing and simultaneously blocking other little kids from entering. A little girl pushed past his leg and sent a barely concealed glare at him before making her way to Shigino’s fox class. Yamazaki glanced down at Koutarou and then back at Rin as he smiled a little easily.

“Your uncle?” Yamazaki repeated.

Koutarou nodded eagerly. “That’s right! Rin Matsuoka, the Olympic swimmer!”

Any other time Rin might have preened immensely for the praise his nephew was dishing out. Right now, though, he kind of wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in.

“Well, so it is,” Yamazaki said, teasingly if Rin could only hope. “Mr. Gold Medalist, I think it’d be better if you got out of the doorway. You’re hindering the students.”

Rin scrambled out of the way, tongue heavy and leaden. Little kids in his class began to pour in alongside their parents. A good number of mothers were among the groups of parents, greeting Yamazaki and barely concealed blushes Rin was sure was still present on his own face. Yamazaki nodded a polite greeting to each of them while ruffling the hair of their kids as they settled into their seats. One by one the parents filed out until only Rin remained. Yamazaki cleared his throat, having put down and ushered Koutarou to sit in his seat between a girl and boy near one of the windows.

“You won’t have to worry, Matsuoka-san,” Yamazaki said, kindly. “He’ll be here when you come back later.”

Rin jumped, turning to face Yamazaki slowly as he let his words sink in. Rin rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to find his voice.

“Oh, right, right,” Rin mumbled. “I’ll, uh, I’ll be back later, then. It was nice meeting you, Yamazaki-sensei.”

Something flickered in Yamazaki’s eyes as he smiled lazily, eyes droopy and face relaxed. He put his hands into the pockets of his apron, and turned to enter his classroom.

“I’ll be seeing you then,” Yamazaki added. Then he walked into his room and greeted his children. One of the last things Rin saw before he was finally gone was a pink-head and a sly smirk from the corner of his eye.

-

“I hate you,” Was the first thing Rin said when he returned to Gou’s home.

Gou hummed, patting down loose strands of hair in the bathroom mirror as Rin leaned against the door. She glanced at his reflection and smiled slyly. His face was set in a grumpy expression, but she could tell the underlying flustering from earlier still lingered.

“You met Sousuke-kun, then?” Gou asked, casually. “He’s very nice, isn’t he?”

Rin threw his hands up. “Don’t act coy! You _knew_. Gou, he’s – and his arms, Gou, his _arms –_ his stupid voice, ugh and his hair,” Rin rambled.

Gou nodded, fluent in Rin-speak.

“And then with Koutarou? Are you kidding me? It was just – ugh. I hate it. I hate him. I hate _you._ ”

Gou looked over her shoulder at her brother smile never straying. She had anticipated this. Rin didn’t have a set type per-say but she knew enough about his interests to pinpoint the exact moment she met Sousuke that Rin would be a goner. It had been easy enough to befriend her son’s teacher, he was off-putting expression wise but overwhelmingly kind underneath. She learned and decoded a good number of things she was sure to keep close to her heart. The rest would be up to Rin to figure out and achieve. He did like challenges after all.

“Soooo, you like him then, huh?” Gou said.

Rin put his head in his hands. He groaned loudly until it echoed in the bathroom and Gou was cackling and clutching onto the bathroom counter.

“Yes, I like him,” Rin said finally. “It just, hell, it really caught me off guard.”

Gou patted Rin on his shoulder and nudged him out of the bathroom with a gentle push at his back. Rin wordlessly obeyed and quietly stewed instead. Gou popped her chin up on his shoulder.

“I’m expecting a lot of parfaits for this, you know,” Gou said. “I _was_ looking out for you.”

“Extorting maybe,” Rin grumbled. He patted her on the head regardless. “Let’s get going, then.”

-

It was little secret how much Rin truly cared for his sister, even when they had drifted during a particularly dark time for him. He had cut ties left and right where he should have been securing bridges to ease the commotion inside of him. But Gou had stayed steadfast, then. She had moved heaven and earth to bring him back and help him through that dark time. Even when Rin had wanted nothing more than to give up, Gou had been there to help bolster him up. He really owed her.

 _But maybe not right now,_ Rin thought, grinding his teeth.

Maybe this was payback for back then when she hadn’t bitten back. She was probably getting revenge now.

Gou had been borderline insufferable on their outing. That is, whenever he wanted to get a little tidbit about Yamazaki, she’d pretend she hadn’t heard him muttering it and force him to speak up and embarrass himself. Rin had sat at their table at the ice cream shop with a burning face as he shoved frozen yogurt into his mouth and dared not look at the smug look on his sister’s face. Anyone who thought Gou was some angel set to inhabit earth (Seijuro) was horribly wrong. Rin had grown up with Gou, he knew how she was deep down.

Gou dipped her finger in her parfait and hummed. She took up a cherry between her fingers and looked at it a moment.

“His resting face is kind of scary,” Gou started. “But I think that’s how he likes it. He’s very kind deep down, though. He really gets along with kids. I think he was actually studying to do something else.”

“I see,” Rin mumbled.

“He’s actually from here, too. But I don’t think you guys had a chance to be in class together. He moved to Tokyo sometime in elementary school. Then he moved back here after he got his degree.”

Rin eyed her critically, “You two sure talk easily.”

Gou waved a hand. “He’s a bit taciturn at first but once you get him going, he’s very open.” She pointedly looked at Rin.

“Anyway, all the kids really love him and he really cares about them, too. Even if you two don’t hit it off like that, I think you’d make great friends.”

Rin swallowed a bit of his yogurt, thinking. He nodded quietly.

“Yeah, probably. Thanks, Gou.”

Gou dabbed a bit of ice cream on his nose. “I’ve told you before, it’s _Kou_.”

-

Rin kept wiping his hands on his jeans as he headed to Koutarou’s school. He had spent the twenty minutes before heading out primping himself in the mirror and fixing the collar of his shirt. He opted for a jacket in the end, trying to go for casual to hide how way too into Yamazaki he was.

Rin held his breath as he came up the walkway, moving out of the way of parents as he hung back and waited to retrieve Koutarou. Rin leaned against an outdoor bench, watching parents and children waving goodbye to Yamazaki. Rin could spot Koutarou chatting eagerly with another boy where he was seated on a carpet with his bag on his back. The other little boy was eagerly nodding, perhaps a bit overwhelmed with what he was saying, but excited nonetheless.

When Rin had felt that it was clear enough to approach, he walked in and cleared his throat behind Yamazaki. Yamazaki looked over his shoulder curiously until he settled his gaze on Rin. When he smiled Rin melted.

“Matsuoka-san, you’re back,” Yamazaki greeted. He turned to call Koutarou. “Koutarou, your uncle is here.”

Koutarou scrambled to his feet stopping midway on his journey towards Rin to hurry back and say goodbye to his friend. Rin caught him mid-jump and pressed the little boy to his chest as he wiggled and fit his arms around Rin’s neck.

“Uncle Rin,” Koutarou said. “Can we get ice cream after this?”

Rin bit his tongue. He’d eaten enough ice cream earlier to last him the rest of year. And he actually hated sweets. Yamazaki ruffled the back of Koutarou’s hair as he chuckled.

“I’m sure the last thing your uncle would like is to eat ice cream right now, kiddo,” Yamazaki said. “He’s an athlete after all. He has to stay in shape even in the off season. Isn’t that right, Matsuoka-san?”

“Th-that’s – yes!” Rin stuttered. “I mean, yes, that’s right. I have to keep in form, you know, Kou. Can’t win any medals if I don’t.”

Koutarou’s eyes sparkled as he nodded in understanding. He turned to face Yamazaki for a moment, as if considering something before turning back to Rin. He tugged on the collar of Rin’s shirt.

“Uncle Rin, did you know that Yamazaki-sensei really likes swimming?” Koutarou said. “He said you swim the best!”

Yamazaki choked on his spit as Rin’s eyes flew up from his nephew to Yamazaki as he shot a brief betrayed look at the boy. The triumphant look on the boy’s face could only have been inherited by Gou. Rin shifted Koutarou on his arm and sheepishly regarded Yamazaki.

“Yamzaki-sensei, I didn’t know you were a fan of mine,” Rin said. “That’s flattering. Do you need an autograph?”

Yamazaki smiled despite himself and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked at Rin through his bangs, with a soft grin.

“Maybe next time, Matsuoka-san,” Yamazaki said. He shot a teasing look towards Koutarou. “Maybe when I can work up the nerve to ask you myself instead.”

Yamazaki gave Koutarou’s hair one last ruffle as he backtracked to attend to the children whose parents would be a little late. He bent to take the hand of a little girl that was beginning to tear up and mumbled something calming before briefly turning to look at Rin.

“See you tomorrow, Koutarou, Matsuoka-san. It was nice meeting you,” He said.

He scooped the little girl up and ushered for the remaining children to gather around him. He clapped his hands and got them to break into a little song. Rin heaved a sigh. There was no going back now.

-

Gou fell on top of Rin as he laid out on his old childhood bed, having to curl up to still be able to fit. Gou had gotten their mother to fish out the shark-printed bedsheets he’d had growing up for old times sake. Gou petted at Rin’s hair.

 

“So, how’d it go? Koutarou said you wanted to give Yamazaki an autograph,” Gou said.

Rin was quiet for a moment as he tried to sort his thoughts. He glanced up at Gou trying to not throw her off. He looked back at the wall his bed was pushed up against with all his old swimming posters, and the photo of his dad Gou must have pinned up when he had left Japan. She had pinned up other pictures of his friends from Iwatobi – Haru, Makoto, and Nagisa.

“Koutarou said that Yamazaki really likes swimming, and that he’s been following my career. He thinks _I’m_ the best,” Rin said. “How crazy is that?”

“Not too crazy. You’re a really good swimmer, Brother,” Gou assured.

“Thanks. Do you think I have a shot?” Rin asked, a bit meek. “I don’t want it to be just him fan worshiping me or anything. I want him to really like me – for me. For Rin Matsuoka from Sano not Japan’s Olympic Gold Medalist Rin Matsuoka.”

Gou pulled at him to roll over and sat up on her elbow as Rin laid out on his back. Rin had missed this, being able to talk to Gou on this bed and share his insecurities. She had always been the more level-headed of the two, a little more tactful than him and Matsuokas tended to run hot-headed and self-assured.

“You won’t know until you try. When you get the courage ask him out on a date, sweep him off his feet with dorky Rin Matsuoka so he knows that’s who you really are.”

“Dorky? Is that really how you see me?”

Gou rolled her eyes. “Did you think you were cool, Brother? Please. Dorky is the right word.”

She patted his cheek before getting up off the bed. “You never know, you might discover some new things, too.”

Rin raised an eyebrow, hating sometimes how strangely cryptic she could be just to get a rise out of him. Gou bid him goodnight and Rin turned back to face his posters and closed his eyes.

-

It was only another three days into Rin taking Koutarou to school that Rin realized that maybe he’d fallen for Yamazaki a little too hard. Even the little things that he’d done were making him swoon. If Yamazaki smiled a little more gently or lingered a little bit longer than he did with any other parent with Rin, Rin would preen. The briefest of touches when Yamazaki would hand him Koutarou would make Rin tingle.

Yamazaki was coming towards him holding hands with Koutarou, that typical gentle smile on his face as he greeted Rin with a small wave.

“Hey, Matsuoka-san,” Yamazaki said. “Your hair looks really good in that ponytail.”

He had said it so casually as if he hadn’t made Rin start screaming internally. When he rose back and passed his nephew to him, Rin  was thankful he could properly could get a coherent word out.

“Thanks, it, uh, helps when the weather’s hot and I’m going for a jog,” Rin said. “We’ll see you tomorrow then, Yamazaki-sensei.”

“Likewise,” Yamazaki said. He waved at them until Rin was out the door.

Even worse was probably the time Yamazaki had unintentionally given Rin a bent, weathered handful of flowers and Rin had still felt utterly charmed. Yamazaki had been hounded by kids, at the word of Shigino-sensei apparently, and was nearly falling to his knees as they pounced on him, laughing and hollering. In one hand Yamazaki was holding onto a small bouquet of flowers a little girl in his class had picked for him. The stems were bent and many of the petals had either been crushed or fallen off. Still, Yamazaki had tried rather hard to keep them preserved.

Yamazaki spotted Rin and made quite the effort to walk over to him, careful that none of the children would fall off from where they were gripping onto him. He thrust his hand out at him.

“Matsuoka-san, take these please,” Yamazaki had grunted.

Rin had taken it gently, watching as Yamazaki turned back around and collapsed in a heap on the ground, grabbing at a few children and tickling the ones he caught. They screeched and hollered and scrambled away from him. Shigino popped his pink head in chiming at them that Yamazaki was “monster” and they needed to escape.

Rin held the flowers close to his chest.

-

The frequency of questions increased after that, and Rin usually waited until Yamazaki was almost completely alone and not being weighed down with children to approach him.  Rin would bite his lip and look up through his lashes at Yamazaki and let some random question fly.

Yamazaki for his part had only looked mildly surprised at first, probably wondering why Rin was so adamant about establishing conversations between them (Rin feared he thought that his fame would make him too much of a hurdle in itself to consider anything more than fleeting acquaintances). But he warmed up quickly enough, humoring him and answering calmly with that dopey smile of his. Rin hoarded these little meaningless facts to himself and reveled in any new information Yamazaki was willing to give.

“I think Rambo is my favorite,” Yamazaki said. “But don’t tell the kids. I told them once that Spirited Away was my favorite.”

Rin gaped. “You _don’t_ like it?”

Yamazaki laughed, replacing a fallen books onto the little shelf. His few remaining kids had joined Shigino’s for a game of freeze tag in the little play area out back. They finally had a bit of privacy, just the two of them in Yamazaki’s classroom. He looked up at Rin with a lazy smile as he rested his arm on his knee.

“I do, don’t get me wrong. It’s a nice movie. I think I preferred Princess Mononoke as a kid more, though. What about you, Matsuoka-san? What movies do you like?”

“Rin, just Rin is fine,” Rin interjected.

“Ah, I see. Then, call me Sousuke, too.”

“Okay,” Rin mumbled “If I tell you you can’t laugh got it? Don’t give me that look, I’m serious!”

Sousuke raised a brow. “Okay….?”

Rin flushed hotly. “….Romance. I love romance movies. I really liked Howl’s Moving Castle as a kid.”

Sousuke bit into his lip trying to suppress a smile, and Rin wanted nothing more than to grab him by his collar and shake him a good couple times. Sousuke looked away a moment before he finally faced Rin again and cracked a teasing smile.

“Did you have a crush on Howl as a kid?” Sousuke asked.

“What would you say if I did?” Rin returned haughtily.

“That I did, too,” Sousuke said. “I also really liked San in Princess Mononoke.”

Rin huffed a laugh, kneeling down next to Sousuke to help him put the books away. He gave Sousuke a sidelong glance. Sousuke looked back at him curiously, raising an eyebrow as he tried to decode what Rin could be thinking.

“So, do you still have crushes on them?” Rin joked.

Sousuke snorted, knocking a book against Rin’s arm before replacing it on the shelf.

“I’d like to think my crushes have become much more grown up, thanks,” Sousuke replied. “The person I like is definitely real.”

Rin swiped one of the books away from Sousuke, loving the brief challenging look on his face. Sousuke re-shelved two at a time just to spite Rin. Rin knocked it back out with a wiggle of the spine. Sousuke sighed exaggeratedly.

“How real?” Rin prompted, mentally crossing his fingers.

Sousuke’s hand paused as he reached for the book Rin had dropped. He hesitated, considering his words before looking up at Rin, almost a little longingly. He looked down again and chortled.

“Pretty real. He’s sitting right next to me, and sometimes I can’t even believe it,” Sousuke said. He hesitated a moment. “How about that?”

Rin inhaled sharply.  He rested his finger tips to the back of Sousuke’s hand.

“I’d say that qualifies you for a date. How about _that_?”

Sousuke leaned a little closer to Rin, tucking his chin closer to his chest. “I’d really like that.”

The door to the playground flew open as Shigino walked in. He pointed straight at Sousuke as he let a shit-eating smile cross his face. The kids gathered around him, looking at Sousuke.

“Dog pile on Yamazaki-sensei!” Shigino exclaimed.

The children cheered and dove at Sousuke. Rin only narrowly made it out as Sousuke was covered in laughing children. Shigino passed by Rin with a secretive smile and a friendly wave, as he went to kneel by Sousuke and mumble something that made Sousuke glare hotly at him. Shigino only laughed.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, R – _Matsuoka-san_ ,” Sousuke called. He dislodged Koutarou from him and pushed him to head over to his uncle.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Yamazaki-sensei,” Rin said.

-

Shigino-sensei bumped into him the next day when he’d seen Koutarou off, making Rin stumble on his feet. He took a hold of Rin’s hands to steady him and pressed a folded piece of paper into his palm. Rin reflexively closed them. Shigino patted him good-naturally with a brief apology on the shoulder before heading off to his own classroom.  It had a phone number, an address and time, and Sousuke’s hurried initials on them. Rin hurriedly shoved it into his pockets.

-

Sousuke’ house was surprisingly close to his own. Just a few blocks south and down a left corner, and Rin was at Sousuke’s doorstep. Rin had barely knocked on the door before Sousuke had flung it open. He had a bit of flour on his cheek and the sleeves of shirt rolled up to his elbows underneath a slightly messy apron.

“Rin, you’re here quicker than I expected,” Sousuke said “I, uh, didn’t finish dinner yet.”

“You’re a regular housewife, Sousuke. Looking after kids, cooking, what else can you do?” Rin joked.

Sousuke rolled his eyes, stepping aside so Rin could enter. Rin pulled at the strap of his apron, eyes lidding in amusement.

“It’s becoming a permanent fashion statement, huh?” Rin said.

“Not on purpose,” Sousuke muttered. “Are you more content to watch or do you wanna help?”

Rin knocked the back of his fist to Sousuke’s chest where Sousuke’s eyes lingered. Sousuke’s hand hovered in the air between them before falling away to Rin’s disappointment.

“Lead the way then,” Rin said finally.

-

Sousuke’s kitchen wasn’t anything special, maybe a bit smaller than his mother’s own and lacking the bright flare she had. It was pretty bare if anything. Sousuke probably had all of five plates and three bowls with a handful of utensils. The saving grace of his kitchen was the fact he apparently had a big appetite and at least kept food in good stock. Anything from  dozens of cans of cola to pieces of pork shoved into the freezer.

Rin was cutting up the stack of vegetables Sousuke had pushed him in front of as he worked on cooking up the pork. Rin glanced frequently at Sousuke’s back as he turned the meat in the pan.

“Hey, Sousuke, when did you start to like swimming?” Rin asked.

Sousuke faltered a moment as he tilted the pan and moved around the meat. He didn’t look towards Rin when he spoke.

“A pretty long time actually. I had wanted to swim at Sano SC when we lived here, but my dad had a job transfer and we moved to Tokyo. I swam there for a while actually. I went to Tokitsu on a scholarship,too,” Sousuke said.

“Woah, wait, _Tokitsu_? That’s one of the best swimming schools in the country,” Rin said, knife pausing in mid-air.

Sousuke chuckled a little humorlessly, finally turning and motioning for Rin to hand him the vegetables. Sousuke didn’t completely take the wooden board from his hands, letting it stay between them as he looked down for a moment.

“Yeah, I really loved it. But, well, sometimes you’re kind of stupid when you’re young,” Sousuke said. Didn’t Rin know that, thinking a bit solemnly at his words. “I over-trained and messed up my shoulder.”

“You -” Rin let the chopping board go as Sousuke turned back to the skillet. Rin took him by the shoulder and forced him back around. “You can’t swim anymore?” He hated how breathless he sounded, like he might be on the verge of tears. He might have been if he was being honest.

“Not competitively, I’m afraid. But sometimes I help out at Sano SC when they ask,” Sousuke said, shrugging.

“What stroke did you swim?” Rin babbled. “I need to know.”

“Free, but mostly Butterfly. Ranked in the top ten for a while,” Sousuke said, a faint smirk on his face. “You’re quite the fly swimmer yourself, aren’t you?”

“We could have been rivals,” Rin said. “I could have kicked your ass.”

Sousuke burst out laughing then, leaning over to put the skillet on a lower level as he grabbed onto the edge of a counter with one hand to support himself. Rin scowled, poking a finger into Sousuke’s chest the longer his laughing went on.

“It’s not funny! Quit that! Don’t you miss swimming? Shouldn’t it hurt more to have me bring it up?” Rin growled. He sniffled for a second, making Sousuke pause. Rin quickly wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand before glaring at Sousuke again.

“Oh wow, you actually do cry a lot. I thought that was just a rumor,” Sousuke let slip. He laugh-sighed when Rin tried to deny it before looping his arms around Rin’s waist lazily, giving him enough room to separate if he wanted to.

“There’s no reason to get so upset, you know. It happened a long time ago. It was a bad time and I was in a bad place. But I heard about your swimming and even got to see it once when you were racing Nanase in Tokyo,” Sousuke said. “I thought it was the greatest thing that a guy like that could have come from Sano like me, that we probably even went to the same school for a while.”

“You’re not making me feel much better,” Rin said, sniffling a little louder.

“I’m not finished, jeez. What I’m trying to say is, I was really inspired by your swimming. While I was recovering I was babysitting Kisumi’s little brother. I took him to see your race that day and I decided then on to go for a teaching degree and come back home to Sano.”

Sousuke pulled back a little and moved some of the wet strands of hair on Rin’s cheeks behind his ear.

“So what I’m _actually_ trying to say, Rin Matsuoka, is Thank You. We could have met on the international stage, but I wouldn’t have passed that up to meet you like this, either,” Sousuke finished.

Rin punched him hard in the chest, looking a bit triumphant when Sousuke squawked with pain. He whined something silly and Rin only gave him a dirty look and a snort. Rin shoved him out of the way to turn back up the temperature under the skillet and resolutely faced forward. Sousuke didn’t miss the color on his cheeks.

“You’re not allowed to touch me again until dinner is done,” Rin groused. “You might make me cry again.”

Sousuke snickered, agreeing and moved to set the table in the next room. Each time he passed by Rin to reach a cupboard, he let his fingers just nearly brush against Rin’s skin before walking off with a casual whistle. Rin only huffed.

-

When the food had been finished, and the stove turned off, the first thing Rin did was shove Sousuke up against the fridge. He groped him through that annoying ass apron, and kissed him breathless. Both of his hands dug into the meat of Sousuke’s forearms until Sousuke took him by the hands and pulled them into the pockets of his apron. Rin pressed closer. For every joking thank you Sousuke muttered when Rin pulled back, Rin pressed a harder, longer kiss to shut him up.

“Does that request for an autograph still stand?” Sousuke said, breathless and coy.

With a curl of his tongue, Rin swallowed any further words Sousuke had to offer. 

**Author's Note:**

> original tumblr post----> http://cheshire-ree.tumblr.com/post/138525090748/sourin-week-day-one-paper-never-met 
> 
> Special thanks to rinchansanmatsuoka for listening to my complaints and looking over my work!! I truly appreciate it. This almost was never written because I got fed up at the beginning LOL.
> 
> I hope bakapandy doesn’t mind me using the name of her future fish baby for this fic. It’s the first name that popped into my head when I was writing it. Anyway, I thought about it, and a fic for another pairing I really like was based around this idea, too. I liked it and wanted to try it.
> 
> Also, Gou and Kisumi are actually double-teaming to set Sou and Rin up. Behind the scenes Kisumi is giving Sousuke all these pep talks and keeping an eye on them from time to time and reporting to Gou. And Gou is just like, “Go for it brother!”
> 
> I just realized that I tend to end a lot of my sourin fics with a kiss. Huh. I think I’m going to need to improve some more. I lost steam at the end of the fic loool. I’m so bad at long fics, pls forgive me.
> 
> I've posted it late on A03 b/c things have kind of just been very hectic for me. I'll be posting them on A03 at the proper time now (hopefully)


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